//Fr. Mark Kulandai Raj, SJ (AND) 1948-2022

Fr. Mark Kulandai Raj, SJ (AND) 1948-2022

Fr. Kulandairaj was fully conscious, listening and speaking till the end.  On 3rd July 2022, around 8.30 pm, Fr. Anand was feeding him guava juice with a tea spoon. Fr. Kulandairaj was talking to him and others. Suddenly he fell silent; the end came so suddenly and peacefully.

Once in a conversation about death, he said that for him, death was nothing but shifting from one realm of consciousness to another, i.e. merging into the Divine Consciousness. Again he told Fr. Peter Daniel, his close friend, that at the moment of death, he would evaporate into the loving Heavenly Father.

As Socius to the Novice Master. Fr. Kulandairaj was totally available, artistic and creative, and very friendly with novices, handling them with gentleness and firmness. He was very prayerful.

When Fr. Kulandairaj was Novice Master, he had a terrible accident when the auto in which he was travelling collided with a speeding truck. His right leg bones were crushed. It was a miracle that he recovered. The right leg became shorter, an ‘Ignatian charism’, we said!

He was a self-made man. He did Focus on Leadership Programme of Spirituality and Counseling in Spokane, USA. He also did two years of training in Sadhana, Lonavla, in Personal Counseling.  He had a gift of perceiving people with their untapped resources, and enabled them to grow with his encouragement.

He became a very skilled Counselor and Spiritual Director. He removed the stones that were blocking the personal growth of many people, and freed them to live their life fully. He organised three months’ programmes for Formators in Psychological Counselling, to which religious and priests came from all over India and abroad. He challenged and provoked them to think creatively.

May Fr. Kulandairaj enjoy eternal bliss and peace, losing himself in the Heavenly Father- Mother God whom he loved and trusted.

AXJ Bosco, SJ